Most vehicles have a second, and in some case, a third row of seat assemblies. Generally speaking, most seat assemblies include three fundamental components: (a) a frame to support the seat assembly and mount it to a body, such as a vehicle floor pan; (b) a cushion, typically made of foam, to cover the frame; and (c) trim material to cover cushion and provide a durable surface for contact with a seat assembly occupant. Conventional vehicle seat assemblies typically involve the use of a metal frame and wires for securing the seating assembly to the vehicle. This adds relatively significant weight and complexity to the manufacturing process.
Recently vehicles have begun replacing metal seat frames with structural foam seat frames to take advantage of the relatively high strength to weight ratio of structural foams. These structural foam seat frames are typically attached to the vehicle, such as the seat pan, by spaced apart front and rear attachment wire tabs. The tabs are usually either molded into the frame during molding of the structural foam seat frame or secured to the frame after molding in a post molding operation. While structural foam seat frames can provide certain advantages over metal frames, in certain high stress situations, such as certain frontal impacts, structural foam frames can be more prone to failure than metal frames.
Accordingly, there is a desire to provide a vehicle structural foam vehicle seat frame having a relatively high structural integrity.